Author Topic: Damaged my bike (Read 5053 times)

Vidrazor · « **on:** September 05, 2005, 10:43:16 AM »

I went down on a lowslide on my left side. Not much happened to me, but the bike got damaged. It wasn't a high speed turn, but it appears I may have hit some dirt. Unfortunately the bike slid into the curb.

While I was able to ride the bike home (which fortunately wasn't too far) my forks are bent. Seems like the clamps shifted, but the forks
are not aiming straight down. I still had suspension tho.

I was looking around ebay but didn't see any parts that I need. If anyone has any of these parts, let me know. I need:

Front fender and it's metal clamp.

Transmission cover (intact, but scraped)

Rear side panel (below the seat, where the Bandit name is)

These are the immediate parts that I know I need. Of course there may be more after I get it checked out at the shop. It seems as thought the forks MAY be repairable, but maybe not. I saw a fork set for a '1200 on ebay, don't know if I can use them.

Anyway, thanks for any help with this.

Red01 · « **Reply #1 on:** September 05, 2005, 06:09:51 PM »

You would need the triple clamps from a B12 as they are larger diameter. You would probably need the rest of the front end from a B12, too.

I don't know if anyone here's tried that swap before, but the Katana 750 front end has been swapped - and those ought to be easy to find, too.

gsxr400 racer · « **Reply #2 on:** September 06, 2005, 02:39:57 AM »

maniac has front forks email him!

PitterB4 · « **Reply #3 on:** September 06, 2005, 09:11:26 AM »

Sorry about your get off.

Yeah - your easiest/cheapest solution would be B4 forks. Anything else and you're likely going to have to do the whole front - triples, wheel, rotors, calipers... You might be able to make other 41mm forks work. For them look to B6s and SV650s.

Maniac · « **Reply #4 on:** September 06, 2005, 01:25:10 PM »

Yep, I should have a complete front end here in a bit...

Wheel, forks, brakes, fender. The forks leak though.

Vidrazor · « **Reply #5 on:** September 06, 2005, 06:47:34 PM »

Thanks folks. Well the guy at the shop feels confident he can fix the fork (it's only the left one that got damaged). The front wheel is not warped, but has a dent in the rim. The guy at the shop doesn't feel it's a problem, but I don't like the idea of the dent.

Maniac, is your front wheel silver or white? I need a silver front wheel. If your wheel is silver, is it intact? Is the fender and fender mount intact? Is the fender red? Let me know, thanks.

I thought it was the tranny cover that was scraped, but it's the stator cover on the left. It's cracked and leaks oil. Unless someone has one, I may have to buy a new one.

As I mentioned earlier, I also need the plastic rear left side panel, although I'm wondering if I can get it fixed in an auto body shop. I'd need to get the Bandit decal back on it somehow, tho.

I wonder if there's anyone in my area that does that kind of work on bikes, as I need some paint on the frame as well where it scraped along the road. The frame got flattened there a bit too, wondering if I can patch that as well.

Thanks again for your help folks.

Red01 · « **Reply #6 on:** September 06, 2005, 07:00:07 PM »

Dented wheels can be fixed.
Look at the ads in the back of the major bike rags.
There may be a local source, too

PitterB4 · « **Reply #7 on:** September 06, 2005, 09:37:42 PM »

Maniac's stuff is red and silver:

There are a bunch of B4s with flattened frames. For the other stuff - watch ebay. If you can't find what you're looking for today, you might see it soon

Maniac · « **Reply #8 on:** September 06, 2005, 11:10:16 PM »

Sorry, was at work when I initially posted and got hit with a flood of problems that ended up being non-issues (someone didn't upgrade all the ICs to the latest software).

Yep, my wheel is silver and my fender is red(ish). Actually, the fender is the reddest thing on the bike, it's pretty darned red. The rest is varying shades of red. Let this be a lesson, kids, never park your bike in the sun for a long period of time!

While Rob did post a pic of my mighty fine looking piece of Bandit, I must say that the entire bike is NOT for sale! I -need- most of the parts on it! However the exhaust and front end are up for grabs, since I have a Yoshimura Cyclone and a GSXR front end going on.

Unfortunatly, I can't say how long it'll be before I can ship. I'll need to call the shop where the bike is stored and make arrangements to go pick them up.

Whats a front end worth, with leaky forks, anyway? I have some new seals around here somewhere that I'll throw in.

I'll give the shop a call tomarrow and see if they have them off yet.

PitterB4 · « **Reply #9 on:** September 07, 2005, 09:37:21 AM »

Quote from: "Maniac"

While Rob did post a pic of my mighty fine looking piece of Bandit, I must say that the entire bike is NOT for sale! I -need- most of the parts on it! However the exhaust and front end are up for grabs, since I have a Yoshimura Cyclone and a GSXR front end going on.

LMAO - Damn, Todd you had me laughing with that. Yeah - by "stuff" I meant his wheel and fender.

Vidrazor · « **Reply #10 on:** September 08, 2005, 12:37:16 AM »

Well, here's some more news. There's a beat-up B6 that came into the shop where my bike is, and the guy who brought it in wants to dump it. I can probably get it for ~$500. The shop guy thinks he can put the B6 front end (which is apparently intact) on my B4, but he's not entirely sure.

Does anyone know if this is possible? He say there's a different sized wheel on the B6, but he says I'd have twin rotors up front. He mentioned something about needing to put new main bearings on it, but I'm not sure what he meant by that.

In all honesty, I'm not sure if I even want to bother with my B4 anymore, I think it may be time to put it out to pasture. The incident with the carbs and the accident have really put a damper on my enthusiasm for this bike. The whole repair process with labor will cost about $1000 with the B6 parts, slightly less with B4 OEM repalcement parts.

For about $1800 I may be able to get a '92 Honda Nighthawk 750 in pretty decent condition, so I'm not sure which way to go with all this.

interfuse · « **Reply #11 on:** September 08, 2005, 01:54:31 AM »

Quote from: "Vidrazor"

For about $1800 I may be able to get a '92 Honda Nighthawk 750 in pretty decent condition, so I'm not sure which way to go with all this.

This is probably the wrong place to post your delima. We're all slanted towards bandits. You'd probably get an answer more in tune with your thinking on a nighthawk board.

But personally I'd WAY rather dump a 1g into a bandit 400 then ride a Honda nighthawk 750. The nighthawk is totally yuck. But if you're into that, by all means go for it.

Vidrazor · « **Reply #12 on:** September 08, 2005, 08:04:57 AM »

Well, I'm not so hung up on the Nighthawk as it is merely an option for me at this moment. I've decided against getting the B6 carcass, and if I keep the B4, I'll put the OEM parts on it.

My bigger, long-term concern with the B4 is if I'll continue to have problems with the carbs. I'd hate to dump another grand into the bike and still wind up with that problem (the shop is also going to look further into the carb situation).

So it's not so much an issue of Nighthawk vs B4,

as it is merely dumping what may be a chronically problematic machine for something else. Granted, any machine can have it's problems, but I have a pretty good idea now what I could be up against with the B4, as this carb issue keeps popping up on this site.

Maniac · « **Reply #13 on:** September 08, 2005, 09:27:13 AM »

The main problem with the carbs on the B4 is that they are kinda smallish and hard to get parts for. Getting them working good doesn't seem to be something that most shops are able to do, either by ignorance of the Bandit 400 itself or ineptitude in carburator setup.

Once they -are- set up properly, the main problem is the fuel petcock and silt/rust making their way into the carbs and clogging them back up.

I don't remember exactly what your carburator issues were, but did they check that the jet needles and needle jets weren't worn excessivly? When I first got mine, both were quite badly worn, and the bike ran like -crap- on idle and was a royal pain in the arse to start when cold.

Maniac · « **Reply #14 on:** September 08, 2005, 09:28:05 AM »

Oh, yeah, gonna be heading to Orlando next friday to pick up some 'extra' parts off my bike. So if you still need the front end bits then, let me know.